A proposed resolution that intends to do end the battle over whether Utah should ditch daylight savings time is using a geographical trick to keep Utah on the same clock setting all year.
SCR5, sponsored by Sen. Wayne Harper, R-Taylorsville, takes a novel approach to the issue. Instead of just ending daylight savings like Arizona, the proposal asks the federal government to put Utah in the central time zone.
That means, for at least part of the year, clocks in Utah would show the same time as Chicago and Dallas, and one hour ahead of Denver.
“Utah would be a ‘donut hole’ in the west when it comes to our clocks,” says Harper.
It’s an interesting twist. Utah would be one hour ahead of every other city in the intermountain west, and two hours ahead of Los Angeles. The proposal says moving to central time would reduce household energy use because there would be one more hour of sunlight in the evening. It also promises to grow Utah’s tax base because that extra hour means more commercial activity.
The goal is to keep Utah’s clocks at a consistent time year round.
When other cities “spring forward” for daylight savings time, Salt Lake City would then be the same time as Denver and other metro areas in the Intermountain West.
It’s a different approach than Arizona, which remains on mountain standard time year round. Residents there ping-pong back and forth between being on the same time as Los Angeles and Denver.
[Editor’s note: A previous version of this story contained incorrect information on how the proposal would work. It has been updated to reflect the true nature of the resolution. We regret the error.]
